Ok. So you decided on your own initiative or that of your organization and/or your team to adopt the OKRs methodology, but you still have questions about how to define OKRs correctly for your business.
You probably did some research, read John Doerr 's book and watched the video on how Google defines its OKRs. He is super excited about all aspects of alignment, transparency, engagement and eager to see hyper growth in his business.
In more practical terms, however, you are having difficulty starting from scratch – from a blank page – thinking about how you will define your OKRs.
Don't worry, this is one of the main pain points for those who are in the first cycles of OKRs . In this first post, we will explain:
- What is not an OKR
- OKR example
- What is it and how to define OKRs for your business
- Main lessons from this post
For an OKR to be effective, a little knowledge of the methodology is necessary to avoid making some basic mistakes that – later – will harm the credibility and continuity of the program.
So let's start by explaining what OKRs are not
OKRs are not a goal : a goal is what we want or desire, an objective is something that we will achieve, within some defined time frame
OKRs are not a KPI : the difference in names explains everything. OKRs stand for “Objectives and Key Results” and KPI stands for “Key Performance Indicators”. Objectives and indicators are ideally related (one influences the other), but they are not the same thing.
OKRs are not a task : OKRs are not an elaborate list of To Do's. A task or action is a specific unit of effort, usually routine, something that happens frequently, like “Write an OKRs article for the blog.” Here we draw attention, as it is very easy to confuse Key Results with action.
OKR example
To make it clearer, we created an example of the correct logic of an OKR in the context above (from the blog):
Strategic Objective 1 : Increase the number of Inbound leads for the company by X%, in the 1st Quarter
For this, the following Tactical OKR was defined:
Objective 1 : Increase the number of visitors and visibility/engagement on the company blog
Key Result 1.1 .: Increase the number of visitors to the page from X to Y, by Q2 20XX
Key Result 1.2. : Decrease the bounce-rate from X% to Y%, up to 2nd Q 20XX
Key Result 1.3. : Increase organic Google positioning from position X to Y
Action 1 : Write and publish – at least – 2 OKRs articles per week – during the 1st Quarter;
Action 2 : Optimize publications for best SEO practices;
You might be wondering: OK, so if OKRs aren't a goal, they're not KPIs, and they're not tasks, what are OKRs?
What is it and how to define OKRs for your business
OKRs are a means to an end (in this case, results). Always and however, since the business world is a world, and results are more important, it is from them that your company lives, therefore, your OKRs program may be technically perfect, but if it does not generate results, it will not survive for more than two cycles. in your company, believe me.
OKRs are a plan to achieve goals that are necessary for the organization's survival, which will change the organization's level.
- We start with the strategic objectives and goals that we will achieve.
- From these strategic objectives (usually in a BSC or something) we derive the “O” of OKR: the objectives that, when fulfilled, will have the desired impact on the company's strategic objectives and goals.
- After defining the Objectives, we then define the Key Results: when achieved means that we will have achieved our objective.
- Finally, the organization plans how – exactly – they will use their resources (such as time or team) to achieve the Key Results: these are tasks or actions.
We always argue that the name OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) itself leads to a mistake, as the correct name should be OKRAs (Objectives, Key Results and Actions).
Actions or “tasks” should be a fundamental part of OKRs, because without actions to prove and demonstrate a cause-effect relationship, OKRs become just desire or the famous “wishfull thinking”.
As per the previous example, notice how a Strategic Objective (in this case, “Increase the number of Inbound leads for the company by X%, in the 1st Quarter”) fed a Tactical OKR of “Increase the number of visitors and visibility/engagement on the blog from the company".
For this tactical objective, the following Key Results were defined:
Key Result 1.1.: Increase the number of visitors to the page from X to Y, by Q2 20XX
Key Result 1.2.: Decrease the bounce-rate from X% to Y%, until 2nd Q 20XX
Key Result 1.3.: Increase organic Google positioning from position X to Y
Note that Key Results must be the objective measurement of how we know that we are delivering the defined tactical objective (in this case, “Increase the number of visitors and visibility/engagement on the company blog”).
And to achieve the Key Results, the following actions were defined:
Action 1: Write and publish – at least – 2 OKRs articles per week – during the 1st Quarter;
Action 2: Optimize publications for best SEO practices;
Key takeaways from this post
We have defined a list of the main “take-aways” from this post:
- OKRs are a link between strategic objectives and the efforts and tactical organization to achieve the companies' strategic and level-changing objectives;
- Objectives (from OKRs) are something we want to achieve within a deadline;
- Key Results are objective evidence that we are achieving our tactical objective.
- Tasks or actions are the efforts and sets of actions we make in order to achieve our Key Results.
By following these simple tips, you significantly increase the probability of achieving your OKRs.
Did you like the content? Continue complementing your knowledge about OKRs and also read: Using OKRs in your strategic planning.
